A Better Way To Learn To Play Piano And Keyboard.

What's in the box...
Basically what you get for your money is a series of 10 detailed PDF ebooks embedded with 500 Audio clips and 200 Videos that explain everything in an easy to understand format.
Just open a page and click on the video or audio to play.
This means you can set them up on your computer to view so you can play your piano or keyboard without having to flick through pages (though you do have the option to print out pages if you want).

The books take you from the basics through to more advanced playing in a series of steps so you don't get lost (and you don't play boring material!).

You start with Popular Chord based Rhythm Style Piano (think of artists like Elton John, Billy Joel, Lennon & McCartney, Barry Mannilow, Lionel Ritchie, Coldplay, Norah Jones and so on) which is easy but sounds amazingly like the 'real thing'. This enables you to achieve a professional sound almost immediately. Once you are sounding great and having a whole lot of fun (which motivates you to learn more) you then expand step-by-step on your chord and rhythm knowledge into Blues, Ballad style, Jazz, Ragtime, Improvisation and even Sight Reading Classical music.
Note:
There is also a option of purchasing individual books so you can get only what you need at the time if your budget is tight.

Downloading and installing Pianoforall was fairly straight forward.
I'm on a reasonably fast internet connection so the entire lesson set of 10 ebooks and their video and audio files took about 15 - 20 minutes.
On dialup you could download each individual book in your own time - and a CD Rom is available upon request.

To view everything you do need some software which is usually already installed on most computers (and also freely available online).
Basically you need Quicktime and Adobe (Acrobat) reader.
Provided your computer (Windows or Mac) has this (and can play sound) you are good to go.

Getting started with the lessons is just a case of opening up each ebook, reading and clicking on the links that play the videos and sound files.

After investigating (and trying out) a number of other piano lesson programs both online and at my local library I have come to the conclusion that this is one of the better tutorial series available.
As a "non music reading type of person" I found the course very intuitive and also fun.
I found that after just a few minutes I was able to "get it" and understand some things that had eluded me for years.

Piano For all is particularly aimed at adults and teenagers who have either had no previous experience playing a keyboard or perhaps just a little knowledge from tinkering around in their spare time.
Piano For All is great for people who may have had piano lessons before but became quickly bored or discouraged because of the way they were learning.

The author, Robin Hall (pictured) has really put a great deal of thought into this program and it shows.

Value for money?
I originally purchased the whole set of ebooks for $79.50 which works out to be just under $8 US dollars per book which I think is a fair price when you consider what you would be paying per music lesson (around $30 or more per hour or a printed book for about the same price).
Based on the content in the series I think anyone would be more than satisfied.

Note:
Currently for a limited time Robin is offering his complete course for HALF price ($39.95) so it would be worth grabbing a copy either for yourself or as a gift for a friend.
www.pianoforall.com

Begin by just doing a few minutes a day (every day) and progress from there. I found this far more effective than having a longer sessions less often because it helps you to stay in the habit and mindset of being a musician.

Shorter sessions more frequently (every day) when you first start out will also help your fingers get used to new positions (such as holding down the strings of a guitar) and will allow them to recover quickly and build up a memory of how to create the notes as you play.

If one lesson becomes boring then don't torture yourself - pick out something that really interests you - is it a bass line from a song? A melody? or perhaps a certain style? then mix it into what you are learning.

Get to know your instrument- spend time studying and experimenting with your instrument and how you can create different sounds, where the notes are, what is most comfortable and so on - the better you understand your instrument the easier it is play and relax as you won't have to think about how to play but you will begin to instinctively know where to put your fingers to get the notes you need.

Listen to music featuring the instrument you are learning - try to work out how they fit in the music and even the notes they might be playing and see if you can learn some of their technique.

Get some backing tracks to play along with. This will introduce you to playing in time, improvisation and how to accompany other musicians (it's also a great way to warm up). If you have an understanding friend who has some musical skills perhaps you can get together and work on some simple tunes. If you struggle with learning music notation don't let that discourage or limit you, there are other ways to get started with playing without knowing a single page of musical notation (that can come later as you develop your playing skills).